The Bengaluru Police interrupted British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran while he was recently performing on the Church Street. The police did not recognise the British singer and instructed him to stop performing, with one of the officers even unplugging his microphone when the singer was still performing.
A video of the same went viral on social media. Social media users were irate at the Bengaluru Police's conduct, with one user even equating it to 'uncleocracy,' where middle-aged uncles stop young people from having fun.
Netizens found the incident to be embarassing, especially since Sheeran followed all the rules.
"The reason that cop shut down Ed Sheeran wasn't to prevent pandemonium on church street or maintain order on a busy sunday or anything. It's the same reason we can't read in cubbon park or visit any public park outside of morning walk hours or hold hands anywhere. Because we live in an uncleocracy. And there's nothing uncles love more than to stop young people from having fun," a user said.
"It’s coz he didn’t sing in kannada," another user said in jest.
"Uncles in India have a sadistic pleasure when they stop people from having fun. We need to save this country from these uncles," a user noted.
"uncleocracy - bang on! I remember in my teenage years living in this gated complex... Beautiful lush green lawn... A bunch of old uncles and aunties stopped us teenagers from use that space to do a crossfit bootcamp of sorts... They wanted to use that place to sit in the evenings and catch up... Without seeing us run and jump around," yet another user commented.
After his performance was interrupted by the Police, Sheeran said in his Instagram Stories that it was not a 'surprise' that he was playing there.
“We had permission to busk btw, hence us playing in that exact spot, was planned out before, it wasn't just us randomly turning up. All good though. See ya at the show tonight x,” Sheeran's post read.
The British singer-songwriter is currently touring India and has already performed in Hyderabad and Chennai. He is slated to perform in Delhi-NCR and Shillong next.